The Aging in Africa Project, designed by architecture firm HWKN for the Foundation Saint Joseph d’Arimathie, aims to be the first retirement community in Africa dedicated entirely to caring for those without family. According to the project’s founders, Catholic priests are a group often excluded from care in a family-based society. HWKN’s design for the center provides a modern, safe, efficient facility where the retirees can enjoy a healthy and comfortable lifestyle.
In a mission to make New Yorkers more healthy, Mayor Bloomberg is planning a ban of sodas and sugary drinks across the city. Soda, iced teas, and sports drinks that are over 16 ounces may soon disappear from the shelves of movie theaters, food carts, delis, restaurants, and sports arenas. As part of a plea to get citizens to join the fight against obesity, while his plan bans the monstrous sizes of these sweet drinks, their smaller-bottle counterparts will still remain in reach. So is Mayor Bloomberg’s removal of large, calorie-packed drinks a good idea, or is he going to far? What do you think? Take our poll after the break.
Brooklyn-based Fiyel Levent was one of the talented designers that participated in the innovative 12 x 12 project, which upcycled wood from some of New York’s historic buildings into beautiful furniture. Levent’s source of materials was the Mars Bar, a seminal East Village haunt that shuttered its doors to the chagrin of aging punks everywhere in 2011. Paying tribute to the cast of characters that frequented the bar since the 1970s, Levent created Vice Box, a gorgeous liquor and wine cabinet from reclaimed wood emblazoned with her signature pattern of circles.
Softbank just marked a first for cellphone technology as it launched the Pantone 5 107SH – the world’s first phone that ships with a built-in Geiger counter. The Pantone 5′s radiation detector is easy-to-use and is capable of measuring radiation levels within 20% accuracy. It also comes in a variety of Pantone colors – for those who are concerned about radiation, but still want to look stylish.
Plastic Bag photo from Shutterstock
Los Angeles may have recently become the largest city to ban plastic bags, but Hawaii just knocked it out of the park by banning plastic bags statewide! Honolulu County just joined the ranks of the ban, making every city in the state part of the plastic bag ban. Hopefully Hawaii’s rejection of plastic bags will inspire other states to follow their lead.
With so many freelancers looking for spots in cafes and bars to set up temporary offices, Aberrant Architecture came up with this idea of creating work desks that can double-up as game tables post “office hours”. Designed with London pubs in mind, by day the tables are elegant bureau-style desks, and by night a drawer containing a pub game transforms their unadorned surfaces into spaces ready for some fun-filled socializing and play.
Memorial Day — the unofficial start of summer in the US — is behind us, and that means longer days and brighter sunshine in the coming months. When shopping for new sunglasses, there are a couple of important factors to take into account: A good pair of shades should protect your eyes from harmful UV rays, they should look cool, and they should also look out for the planet. Beginning with the “Malibu Tortoise” ($85) by Woodwear (pictured), we’ve rounded up our top 14 favorite green sunglasses of the season. Head over to Ecouterre to take a peek at them all.
Meet “Rosemary” – a new emergency response robot prototype developed by the Future Robotics Technology Center for work at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in northern Japan, which was ravaged by the earthquake and tsunami last year. After the disaster, foreign robots from the US were the first to explore the crippled nuclear facility. Now, Japanese researchers have stepped up and developed a cutting-edge robot of their own that will operate in areas that are contaminated by radiation.
A year ago we showed you Prinzessinnengarten, a mobile urban garden that blooms in Berlin. Well, in addition to growing lots of organic vegetables, they also organize open events centered around food. Last week we were at ‘Cooking With Mama‘, a social gathering where artist Hiwa K. cooked up vegetables leftover from local markets as he followed his Iraqi mum’s instructions via Skype!
We all know that agriculture requires an incredible amount of water – but what sort of impact does the industry have on the earth? In an infographic titled “Interesting Facts About Farm Water Conservation”, the brains over at Seametrics illustrate some fascinating facts about the world’s farm water consumption. Check out all the details ahead — you’ll be surprised to see how the water footprint of your coffee compares to your bowl of cereal.
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Applied Computer Online Services and Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco are hosting the Home for Humanity Contest, a design competition calling upon architects, engineers, designers, plumbers, urban planners, developers, house builders, and other visionaries to create cost-effective and innovative Habitat homes. The goal of the Home for Humanity Contest is to produce innovative ideas that will inspire open thinking for Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco’s 2020 Vision. Under the 2020 Vision, Habitat plans to build 400 more new houses by 2020 in Marin, San Francisco, and the Peninsula in the Bay Area, California, and renovate at least 200 more homes and 50 neighborhood facilities. Entries are due July 15, 2012.
On a trip to Colorado, presumed Republican nominee Mitt Romney claimed that the state had no green jobs as a result of the Obama Adminstration’s energy policies. While in fact it has 72,452 jobs in
Think wearing leather is inhumane? Then try this on for size: Thailand-based shoe company Rayfish Footwear actually breeds live bespoke stingrays, harvesting them for their leather to make each pair
Germany fed a whopping 22 gigawatts of solar power per hour into the national grid last weekend, setting a new record by meeting nearly half of the country’s weekend power demand. After the
Forget Doritos and sugary sodas, the goodies that this vending machine in San Francisco recently dispensed were out of the ordinary! Instead of junk food, the machine, which was installed by Tourism
For the past several months, California and Texas — two of the most productive agricultural states in the US – have experienced severe drought leading to difficult conditions for farmers in
It seems these days people are using the cloud for everything – even gardening! Brooklyn startup Bitponics takes hydroponic gardening to a more sophisticated level with its smart device and web site
Toyota is well known for its efficient automobiles, but with news that 29 of their facilities have achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, the auto company stake their
Section two of New York City’s High Line Park opened recently to great acclaim, and Team Inhabitat were among the first to catch a glimpse of this amazing new green space! The High Line is a
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